12 October 1939 – 22 June 1941 9 July 1942 – 9 February 1943 19 July – 26 November 1943 26 November 1943 – 17 April 1945
Country
Nazi Germany Hungary (Eastern Front only) Romania (Eastern Front only) Italy (Eastern Front only)
Allegiance
Nazi Germany
Branch
Heer ( Wehrmacht)
Engagements
Phony War
Battle of France
Invasion of the Netherlands
Invasion of Belgium
Case Red
German-occupied France
German-occupied Poland
Eastern Front
Battle of Stalingrad
Operation Uranus
Voronezh–Kharkov offensive
German-occupied Italy
Italian Front
German-occupied France
Western Front
Operation Overlord
Falaise pocket
Operation Market Garden
Battle of the Bulge
Ruhr pocket
Commanders
Commanders
Fedor von Bock Maximilian von Weichs Erwin Rommel Günther von Kluge Walter Model
Military unit
Army Group B (German: Heeresgruppe B) was the name of four distinct German army group commands that saw action during World War II.
The first Army Group B was created on 12 October 1939 (from the former Army Group North) and fought in the Battle of France on the northern flank. It was responsible for a part of the German invasion of Belgium and the majority of the German invasion of the Netherlands. In the later stage of that campaign ("Case Red"), it again advanced on the German right flank towards the Somme river, the city of Paris and the Franco-Spanish border. After 16 August 1940, it was deployed to East Prussia and to the General Government in German-occupied Poland. When Operation Barbarossa began on 22 June 1941, Army Group B was renamed on the same day to become "Army Group Center".
The second Army Group B came into existence on 9 July 1942, when Army Group South was split into two army groups, named Army Group A and Army Group B. Army Group B was responsible for the northern flank of the German 1942 summer offensive towards the Volga river and the Caucasian oilfields. Its most famous operational target was the major city of Stalingrad. Beginning on 21 November 1942, the army group had its lines repeatedly pierced by Red Army counterattacks ("Operation Uranus"), developing into the encirclement crisis during the Battle of Stalingrad that ended with the destruction of the German 6th Army trapped in the city. Army Group B was organizationally weakened by the creation of Army Group Don, which was inserted into the line between Army Groups A and B to alleviate the crisis at Stalingrad. After additional pressure was applied to the army group by the Soviet Voronezh–Kharkov offensive (January – March 1943), the army group was dissolved on 9 February 1943 and its subordinate formations divided between Army Group Center and the newly-reestablished Army Group South (formerly Army Group Don).
The third Army Group B was formed on 19 July 1943 using former Army Group B personnel as well as Task Force Rommel (German: Arbeitsstab Rommel) and deployed to northern Italy. Here, the staff was used on 26 November 1943 to create OB Südwest ("Army Group C").
On the same day, 26 November 1943, another Army Group B command was created at the coast of the English Channel in German-occupied France. After the Allied Normandy landings in June 1944, Army Group B initially commanded the northern wing of the new Western Front. After Army Group H was created in the German-occupied Netherlands in November 1944, Army Group B instead took the center of the Western Front, located between Army Group H to the north and Army Group G to the south. It is notable on the Western Front as the army group to oversee the German Ardennes Offensive ("Battle of the Bulge"). Eventually, Army Group B surrendered on 17 April 1945 in the Ruhr pocket.
ArmyGroupB (German: Heeresgruppe B) was the name of four distinct German armygroup commands that saw action during World War II. The first Army Group...
ArmyGroup A (German: Heeresgruppe A) was the name of three distinct armygroups of the Heer, the ground forces of the Wehrmacht, during World War II....
An armygroup is a military organization consisting of several field armies, which is self-sufficient for indefinite periods. It is usually responsible...
ArmyGroup South (German: Heeresgruppe Süd) was the name of one of three German ArmyGroups during World War II. It was first used in the 1939 September...
by the ArmyGroup North Rear Area. The first ArmyGroup North was deployed during the Invasion of Poland and subsequently renamed ArmyGroupB. The second...
Fischreiher. ArmyGroup South (Heeresgruppe Süd) of the German Army was divided into ArmyGroups A and B (Heeresgruppe A and B). ArmyGroup A was tasked...
ArmyGroup Centre (German: Heeresgruppe Mitte) was the name of two distinct strategic German ArmyGroups that fought on the Eastern Front in World War...
Battle of France, ArmyGroup A and ArmyGroupB were deployed along the north and center of Germany's western border, leaving ArmyGroup C in control of...
Georges was appointed Commander of the North Western Front. The First ArmyGroup guarded the north-east frontier of France, ready to move into Belgium...
around Falaise, Calvados, in which German ArmyGroupB, consisting of the 7th Army and the Fifth Panzer Army (formerly Panzergruppe West), were encircled...
to destroy ArmyGroupB. The reduction of the German pocket began on 1 April by the U.S. Ninth Army, with the forces of the U.S. First Army joining on...
The 4th Panzer Army (German: 4. Panzerarmee), operating as Panzer Group 4 (Panzergruppe 4) from its formation on 15 February 1941 to 1 January 1942, was...
Model commanding ArmyGroupB (15th Army and 5th Panzer Army) and in the south Paul Hausser's ArmyGroup G (7th Army, 1st Army and 19th Army). After capturing...
ArmyGroup F (German: Heeresgruppe F) was a strategic command formation of the Wehrmacht during the Second World War. The commander of ArmyGroup F served...
April 1945) ArmyGroup A ArmyGroupBArmyGroup C ArmyGroup D ArmyGroup E (Heeresgruppe Löhr) ArmyGroup F ArmyGroup G ArmyGroup H ArmyGroup Africa (Heeresgruppe...
Panzer Group West in the event of an allied invasion was the subject of much controversy, with OB West commander Gerd von Rundstedt and ArmyGroupB commander...
The 21st ArmyGroup was a British headquarters formation formed during the Second World War. It controlled two field armies and other supporting units...
1943 when it was combined with Army GroupB and was made into the new ArmyGroup South. The only commander of ArmyGroup Don during its short history was...
defeat at the Battle of the Bulge. In the aftermath of the defeat of ArmyGroupB and its encirclement in the Ruhr Pocket, Model took his own life on 21...
United States ArmyGroup was the largest and most powerful United States Army formation ever to take to the field, commanding four field armies at its peak...
The Slovak Expeditionary ArmyGroup was an element of the military forces of the Slovak Republic that fought under Nazi German command on the Eastern Front...
ArmyGroup H (German: Heeresgruppe H) was a German armygroup during World War II, active between November 1944 and May 1945. It was deployed mainly in...
of staff. British general Bernard Montgomery was in charge of the 21st ArmyGroup which included all the ground forces in the operation. Montgomery was...
ArmyGroup E (German: Heeresgruppe E) was a German ArmyGroup active during World War II. ArmyGroup E was created on 1 January 1943 from the 12th Army...
ArmyGroup Vistula (German: Heeresgruppe Weichsel) was an ArmyGroup of the Wehrmacht, formed on 24 January 1945. It lasted for 105 days, having been put...
Army during the Second World War. Bock served as the commander of ArmyGroup North during the Invasion of Poland in 1939, commander of ArmyGroupB during...
The 15th ArmyGroup was an armygroup in World War II, composed of the British Eighth Army and initially the Seventh United States Army (1943), replaced...